August 2021 Newsletter Archive - Poetry And Embroidery

Hi friends,

This is the August 2021 Newsletter sent out to my lovely subscribers at the end of August.

This 4" diameter cutie was hand-stitched on white cotton (off-cut from a local textile shop, Maiwa) and mounted on a re-used bamboo hoop.

"BLACK OUT" POETRY

Have you heard of this? I don't consider myself a poet but this is a very accessible and fun way to inspire yourself and find beauty in the mundane. In essence, you take an existing written piece of text (from a newspaper, magazine, book, etc.), choose the words you want to use, and "black-out" the remaining words (usually with a black marker). Ta-da! You're a poet and you didn't even know it!

I tried it out using a fashion ad magazine I never intentionally subscribed to. Instead of using a black pen, I cut out pieces of paper from the magazine and pasted them over the words I wanted to redact.

And here is one that is a little more bold and challenging to read, inspired by David Carson's MasterClass on Graphic Design.

** A bonus one, not included in my original newsletter **

It is a fun way to step outside of our usual style and get creative prompts from our own work. For example, the first one - SUNWASHED sunwashed - inspired me to make something else...

Corn husks, once used to protect young & yellow kernels, now dried and faded by the sun. Then woven into a little canvas by me. Bonus flower from my garden in dreamy sunlight.

If you try your hand at black out poetry, please share your poems with me! I would love to see what you create.